TI-99/4A Megademo

[Asmusr]

There has been an overwhelming amount of positive feedback on the demo, and thank you all for that. However, for me the most important stamp of approval was given on YouTube by Paul Urbanus, one of the programmers of Parsec. He writes "Awesome, guys! Reminds me of early days in the lab at TI working on the tech tricks for Parsec - smooth scrolling and simultaneous speech/game play. Keep up the good work. Now, if only I could find the time to do a complementary counterpoint to this demo...".

[Tursi]

I don't know how difficult it would be to split the megademo into several single files, but that would be pretty interesting to find out more about the capabilities of the real and emulated v9938. In general, the v9938 emulation lacks a bit of the high quality of the TMS9928 emulation.

 

Check post 87 http://atariage.com/forums/topic/251995-ti-994a-megademo/?p=3682930

[+acadiel]

You know... I missed Alcatraz the first time in the credits. Yes. One of the best Amiga demo groups. Ilyad and Odyssey demos were pretty awesome.

[gfreige]

Nice!!

I've run the demo in both an US console with the F18A and in a unmodified argentinian PAL console (using component output) and it runs fine in both of them. It runs slower in the PAL one of course but all effects runs fine. Sadly I only have the 32K expansion and no 512K cart.

 

Gongrats to everyone involved!!!

[sometimes99er]

Preserving the entry rules from synchrony.nyc

If there are less than three entries for a compo, the given compo will either be cancelled or combined with another compo.

OLDSKOOL DEMO

Allowed platforms are those from before 1992 in which the CPU has no data bus exceeding 16 bits (Atari VCS, VIC-20, C64, Amiga ECS, Atari ST, NES, SNES, Game Boy, Master System, Mega Drive, ZX Spectrum).

Maximum running time: 8 minutes (including loading/precalc).

Maximum size is 1 standard medium for your platform. For example: 1 disk (both sides on single-side media) on VIC-20, C64, Atari ST; 1 cartridge image for NES, Master System.

Please contact us beforehand if you are going to use any platform that does not produce a VGA or NTSC signal so we can plan to record your production properly; ideally, bring a recording yourself in this case. Remember that providing your own recording does not mean we don’t need to see the real hardware.

For C64: Please state which SID chip to use (6581/8580). This information will be displayed on the info slides for your production.

The entry has to be delivered as a disk or cartridge file (strongly preferred). Don’t have an image? Physical media are still allowed, don’t worry: first, create an entry number; then, label your media clearly with that entry number; finally, deliver your media to the organizers.

If entries cannot be projected from real hardware, you must deliver adequate proof that your entry works on real hardware. You can do this by bringing the hardware with you and showing the organizers.

I would assume "the only expansion allowed" would be 1 standard medium, which would then be 1 disk both sides. And the 8 minute limit would be measured including loading times on such a setup.

Later it says that the entry is preferred to be delivered as an image, disk or cartridge. I also understand that you then did not have to deliver a disk version. I guess the above limitation of 180K would still apply. And if a disk was supplied, the actual size of the cartridge was slightly ignored. And also I guess the 8 minute limit is accepted with the much faster loading media (cartridge).

The TI-99/4A is of course somewhat limited without the 32K Memory Expansion. I guess similar systems like the VIC-20 can be expanded from it's original 5K RAM. The TI was known to be a bigger machine at 16K RAM.

Edited February 8, 2017 by sometimes99er

[+Vorticon]

Preserving the entry rules from synchrony.nyc

 

 

Later it says that the entry is preferred (strongly) to be delivered as cartridge.

 

 

Actually they meant that they preferred an image file for either the disk or cart, rather than physical media.

It's interesting to note that the TI 99/4A was not in the list of systems provided.

[sometimes99er]

Actually they meant that they preferred an image file for either the disk or cart, rather than physical media.

 

Oh yes, I see. Thanks.

[Tursi]

Yeah, it was because of the noted limit that we restricted the demo's size to 180k (despite using a 512k cart - that's just because that's the currently common cart board).

[ralphb]

Congratulations, an incredible demo! My favorites are "snakes" and "3D Xevious", but the three-graphics-mode-in-1 is the most surprising.

 

I'm not sure if it has been answered before, but: Are you going to release the source code? Or is that some kind of trade secret in the demo scene?

[Opry99er]

Unbelievable... Having grown up in Ft Worth.Texas for.part of my childhood, "Don't Mess With Texas" is a staple phrase in my memory.

 

This demo was more than I ever expected to see, and the Wolf3d/Doom section caused me to break out in uncontrollable laughter with joy and disbelief.

 

The level of awesome is off the charts, and any adjective would be inadequate.

 

Brilliant, guys... Truly

[Omega-TI]

... and the Wolf3d/Doom section caused me to break out in uncontrollable laughter with joy and disbelief.

... level of awesome is off the charts, and any adjective would be inadequate.

 

Yeah, that demo makes one ponder the possibilities. I've watched it a few times times now, and every time I see the Doom portion, I think it's too much, maybe a scaled down (1-2 levels) of something like Castle Wolfenstein could be 'doable' game port.

 

Like the demo, the game could come in different 'flavors', a 512K cart version, a SAMS version, or a slower disk version. As a 9918 program it could be fun, but imagine the possibilities of an F18A version?

 

On your return, I wondered, if I stepped away from the TI for 5 months, what kind of surprises might await my return?

[Asmusr]

Congratulations, an incredible demo! My favorites are "snakes" and "3D Xevious", but the three-graphics-mode-in-1 is the most surprising.

 

I'm not sure if it has been answered before, but: Are you going to release the source code? Or is that some kind of trade secret in the demo scene?

 

Not exactly a secret - it has been publicly available here for 6 months :

https://github.com/Rasmus-M/ti99demo

 

Edit: Let me know if you have questions about how any of it works. As you can see we were using your tools.

[carlsson]

It's interesting to note that the TI 99/4A was not in the list of systems provided.

They probably didn't consider the possibility that the TI at all would join the demo scene. For that matter, they didn't list Apple ][, Atari 8-bit computers or Tandy CoCo series, to mention a few computer systems that should be somewhat common in the US. The reason ZX Spectrum is listed for a New York/Montreal based party probably is because it is a rather common platform in the demo scene, mainly from East Europe.

 

But next time they hold the party, quite possibly the TI-99/4A will be listed as an example platform.

Edited February 9, 2017 by carlsson

[Asmusr]

 

Yeah, that demo makes one ponder the possibilities. I've watched it a few times times now, and every time I see the Doom portion, I think it's too much, maybe a scaled down (1-2 levels) of something like Castle Wolfenstein could be 'doable' game port.

 

Like the demo, the game could come in different 'flavors', a 512K cart version, a SAMS version, or a slower disk version. As a 9918 program it could be fun, but imagine the possibilities of an F18A version?

 

On your return, I wondered, if I stepped away from the TI for 5 months, what kind of surprises might await my return?

 

There's a big difference between demos and games: demos only need to show exactly what's needed to run the demo while games need to work whatever action the player takes. The challenge here is not to turn the effects into games but to come up with another demo with even better effects.

[+mizapf]

Rasmus,

 

the demo-dsdd.dsk seems to have an inconsistent VIB. MAME just warned me that there is such an error, and I found that the number of sectors per track is set to 9, although we obviously have 1440 sectors, so MAME calculated 80 tracks, which the default floppy drive does not offer. How did you create that image?

 

The image can be easily fixed by changing the byte at offset 0x000c to 0x12 (18 sectors).

[Omega-TI]

I've always considered demos a marketing tool to show what is possible in real applications or what could be possible in something new. From the early days, even in the TI-99/4A world, the demos always showed real programs or effects of what hardware could do in practical terms.

 

The concept of a demo, just for eye candy, showing things that have no chance of ever developing into anything kind of turns me off.

[Asmusr]

Rasmus,

 

the demo-dsdd.dsk seems to have an inconsistent VIB. MAME just warned me that there is such an error, and I found that the number of sectors per track is set to 9, although we obviously have 1440 sectors, so MAME calculated 80 tracks, which the default floppy drive does not offer. How did you create that image?

 

The image can be easily fixed by changing the byte at offset 0x000c to 0x12 (18 sectors).

 

I hope Ralph will respond to that, we have been using his tools.

[ralphb]

Not exactly a secret - it has been publicly available here for 6 months :

https://github.com/Rasmus-M/ti99demo

 

Duh! But kudos for publishing the code! This will be a great inspiration and learning resource for others.

[Asmusr]

The concept of a demo, just for eye candy, showing things that have no chance of ever developing into anything kind of turns me off.

 

Sorry, perhaps you need some 80 columns text to turn you on again?

[ralphb]

the demo-dsdd.dsk seems to have an inconsistent VIB. MAME just warned me that there is such an error, and I found that the number of sectors per track is set to 9, although we obviously have 1440 sectors, so MAME calculated 80 tracks, which the default floppy drive does not offer. How did you create that image?

 

You're right, Michael, but with the current version of xdm99 the sectors per track is correct.

 

I attached a corrected version:

 

demo-dsdd-fixed.dsk

Edited February 9, 2017 by ralphb

[+mizapf]

As for the demo with the separate files, it seems as if they also can only be loaded one after another, so I cannot just pick a special scene. This would be interesting for tracking the issues on the Geneve. Also, if possible, it would be good if the device name can be set e.g. to SCS1 or DSK5 as the RAMdisk.

[Opry99er]

 

There's a big difference between demos and games: demos only need to show exactly what's needed to run the demo while games need to work whatever action the player takes. The challenge here is not to turn the effects into games but to come up with another demo with even better effects.

Indulgence for the sake of indulgence... I love it!!!

[+InsaneMultitasker]

Rasmus,

 

the demo-dsdd.dsk seems to have an inconsistent VIB. MAME just warned me that there is such an error, and I found that the number of sectors per track is set to 9, although we obviously have 1440 sectors, so MAME calculated 80 tracks, which the default floppy drive does not offer. How did you create that image?

 

The image can be easily fixed by changing the byte at offset 0x000c to 0x12 (18 sectors).

Is the image intended to represent a double-sided, 9 sector/track 80 track disk, or a double-sided 18 sector/track 40 track disk?

[ralphb]

Is the image intended to represent a double-sided, 9 sector/track 80 track disk, or a double-sided 18 sector/track 40 track disk?

 

If I may speak for Rasmus, it's DSDD 40T. See my corrected disk image some posts above.

[Asmusr]

 

You're right, Michael, but with the current version of xdm99 the sectors per track is correct.

 

Aah, I have updated my local version of your tools, but I didn't think of updating the version in the demo repository.